3alpha-aminoandrost-5-ene 17beta-carboxyalic acid and derivatives thereof



United States Patent 3,246,017 3a-AMINOANDROST-5-ENE 17,8-CARBOXYLIC ACID AND DERIVATIVES THEREOF Leslie A. Freiberg, Waukegan, and John Wayne Cole, Deerfield, Ill., assignors t0 Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois No Drawing. Filed June 10, 1964, Ser. No. 374,153 5 Claims. (Cl. 260-3971) The present invention relates to new steroids; more particularly, it relates to 3waminoandrost-5-ene-l7B-carboxylic acid and the corresponding alkyl esters and N-sub stituted derivatives.

The new steroids are represented by the general formula COOR" wherein R is hydrogen, loweralkyl, or a fatty acid acyl group and wherein R and R" are hydrogen or loweralkyl.

The compounds of the present invention are .useful as growth-regulating agents; particularly, they stimulate the growth of the thyroid gland in warm-blooded animals. The new compounds also posses anti-androgenic activity of the type described by Dorfman in Acta Endocrinologica, volume 33, page 308 (1960).

The new compounds are made by preparing an alkylsulfonoxy or arylsulfonoxy derivative of 3fi-hydroxyandrost-5ene-17,8-carboxylic acid esters, heating said 3- alkyl-(or aryl)-sulfonoxy compounds with an alkali metal azide in an inert solvent and, after separating the 3mazidoand-rost-S-ene-l7fi carboxylic acid ester from the reaction mixture, the 3-azido group is converted to the 30:- amino group by reduction in a well known manner. The above reference to inert means that the solvent used is neutral, anhydrous, and does not react with either reactant or the formed reaction products. The above reference to heating means that the reaction between the axide salt and the 3 8-sulfonoxy steroid is carried out at elevated temperature, e.g., about 50 C. The elevated temperature for the reaction is preferably maintained for at least 1 hour, although considerable amounts of the desired 3a-axido steroid form within a few minutes at temepratures of 80-100 C. The reduction of the 311- azido group to the corresponding amino group can be done in any known Way, e.g., by treating the azido compound with zinc and acetic acid, by hydrogenation using a mild catalyst or even electrolytically.

The obtained 3OL-31I1lI1O compound can easily be converted into the analogous acylamino, alkylamino, di alkylamino, or N-acyl-N-alkylamino derivatives through methods well accepted in the art, e.g., to the 3a-acylamino compounds by treating the amino compound with an acyl chloride or a fatty acid anhydride; the .alkylated derivatives can be made by known methods, e.g., by first making a Schiff base with an aliphatic aldehyde and subsequently partially hydrogenating the latter using Raney nickel as the catalyst. Subsequent reaction with an acyl chloride or a fatty acid anhydride can be used to prepare the N-alkylacylarnino compounds.

It will .be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above esters can :be saponified to the corresponding 17ncarboxy derivatives and the carboxy derivatives can be esteri'fied, in turn, with any desired loweralkyl alcohol to the corresponding alkyl esters.

To illustrate the preparation of the new compounds of the present invention, reference is made to the following examples which are not intended to limit the invention in any respect. In these examples, wherever reference is made to a mixture of solvents and no rat-i0 of such solvent is given, it is to be understood that the first solvent named is used to dissolve the material to make a concentrated solution, and .the second solvent is then added to induce or complete crystallization.

Example 1 .3a-azid0-17B-carb0meth0xywndr0nt- 5 -ene To a solution of 40 grams of sodium axide in 450 ml. of anhydrous dirnethylsnllfoxide heated to C. is added 7.0 grams of 3fi-p-toluenesulfonoxy-17fl-canbomethoxyandrost-S-ene. The mixture is maintained with occasional swirling at 85 C. for 2 hours. The warm reaction mixture is then poured into 3.0 liters of water and the product is extracted with ether. The ether is washed with water, dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and evaporated. The product, 3a-azido 1'7B-canbomethoxyandrost-S-ene is crystallized [from methanol to give 1.89 grams of the pure compound melting at 180- 185" C. After recrystallization from methanol, it shows a melting point of 1=8718-8.5 C. and its analytical values correspond closely to those calculated for the compound of empirical formula C H 'N O The starting material used above is obtained by reacting the corresponding 3fl-hydroxy compound with ptolenesulfonyl chloride as described in Helv. Chim. Acta, volume 29, page 671 (1946). When in the preparation of the starting material the p-toluenesulfonyl chloride is replaced by an alkanesulfonyl chloride, 3,8-alkanesultfonoxya17fl-carbomethoxyandrost 5 ene is obtained and can be substituted for the above starting material to obtain an equal yield of 3wazido-17,8-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene as obtained above.

Example 2.-3a-wmin0-17B-carbomethoxyandrost- 5-ene and N-alkyl derivatives -a)( To a suspension of 2.01 grams of 3a-azido l'7ficanbomethoxyandrost-S-ene in 140 ml. of glacial acetic acid/ethylether (1: 1), 5.0 grams of acid washed electrolytic zinc sponge is added in portions over a period of 1 hour. The mixture is stirred another hour and the zinc is then removed by filtration. The filter cake is washed with a small amount of the above solvent mixture and the wash liquor is combined with the filtrate. The filtrate is evaporated in vacuo to remove all of the ethyl ether and the residual acetic acid solution is poured into 500 ml. of water which is then made alkaline by adding potassium hydroxide. The desired product is extracted with ether and the ether is washed with 10% potassium hydroxide and subsequently with water. The ether is dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate and evaporated, giving 1.70 grams of crude 3a-amino-l7fl-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene, melting at 140 C. Purification of this product is effected by absorbing 300 mg. thereof dis solved in 10 ml. of benzene onto 30 grams of a chromatographic column filled with magnesium silicate activated as described in US. 2,393,625. Elution of the material is begun with benzene, followed by gradient elution with benzene/methanol. The major consecutive fractions are combined, evaporated and the residue is sublimed' at l20-130 C. and 0.5 mm. pressure to give mg. of 3aamino-l7 8-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene melting at 154- 158 C. Crystallization from methanol/water produces 114 mg. of the pure compound melting at 158 1595 C. The analytical values are in close agreement with the values calculated for the compound of empirical formula (b) A solution of 50 mg. of 3u-amino-17B-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene, 20 ml. of ethanol, and 15 mg. of acetaldehyde is hydrogenated at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in a Parr shaker after adding '10 mg. of Raney nickel. After absorption of one molar equivalent of hydrogen, the mixture is filtered and the filtrate is evaporated. From the residue, 3oz-ethylamino-l7fl carbomethoxyandrost-Sene is obtained of which an analytical sample is in agreement with the values calculated for the compound of the formula C H NO Alternatively, the Shift base resulting from the above reaction with acetaldehyde maybe reduced directly with sodium borohydride in methanol solution at room temperature.

(c) A solution of 200 mg. of 3a-amino-17 8-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene in 25 ml. of methanol containing 0.1 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric acid is stirred with excess formaldehyde and zinc dust according to the process of Wagner as described in Organic Reactions, 4, page 198 (1948, John Wiley & Sons). The crude dimethylamino ester solution is evaporated, cooled, and then shaken with ether and cold dilute sodium hydroxide to separate an ether solution of the product. The ether solution is washed with sodium hydroxide solution, followed by water, and then concentrated to give the 30: dimethylamino 17/3 carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene of the formula C23H37NO2.

Example 3 .3 u-am i no-] 7 B-carboxyandrost-S -en-e To a solution of 536 mg. of 3a-amino-17 8-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene melting at l54-158 C. in 40 ml. of methanol is added 10 ml. of water containing 0.9 gram of potassium hydroxide. After refluxing the mixture overnight, it is cooled, filtered, and the methanol is removed -from the filtrate in vacuum. A small amount of methanol is then added again to redissolve the precipitate and the solution is neutralized with 1.0 N hydrochloric acid. The crystals of 3a-amino-17fi-canboxyandrost-5- ene are collected and dried at 60 and 1.0 mm. pressure to produce a yield of 421 mg. of crude product. Sublimation of 200 mg. at 250 C. and 0.5 mm. pressure produces 95mg. of pure 3a-aminod7f3-carboxyandrost- 5-ene melting at 330-335 C. in a sealed, evacuated capillary. The analytical values are in close agreement with the values calculated for the compound of the formula CH31NO2- Example 4 .3 a-ace tamidoJ 7 B-carb omethoxyandrost-S-ene To a solution of 366 mg. of 3ot-amino-17B-carbomethoxyandrost-Sene in 16 ml. of pyridine is added 8 ml. of acetic anhydride and the mixture is allowed to stand at C. overnight. The reaction mixture is then poured onto ice and the product is extracted with ether. The ether extracts are washed with 3 N hydrochloricacid, 10% sodium hydroxide, and finally with water. The ether is dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate and is evapor-ated, giving 262 mg. of crude product. Recrystallization of this product from benzene/hexane gives 132 mg. of 3wacetamido-l7B-carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene melting at 225-227 C. The analytical values obtained are in agreement with those calculated for the compound of empirical formula C H NO By replacing the above acetic'anhydride with propionic anhydride, the corresponding 3a-propionamide is obtained in a similar yield.

When 3u-ethylamino-17j8-carbomethoxyandrost-5-ene is used in the above procedure with pyridine and acetic anhydride, 3uN-ethyl N acetylaimino 17p carbomethoxyandrost-S-ene is obtained.

Example 5...-.3u-acetamido-17/8-carboxyandrost-5-ena.

The chloroform solution is dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate and evaporated to give crude 3a-acetam'idol7fl-carboxyandrost 5 ne which is recrystallized from methanol/water to give 181 mg. of the pure product melting at 296-298 "g C. (decomposition) in a sealed, evacuated capillary. The analytical values are in close agreement with those calculated for the compound of empirical formula C H N'O It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other derivatives falling within the above-defined class of new compounds can be made in analogous processes. For instance, all the 30: loweralkyl-amino-l7fi-carbomethoxy- (or carboxy)-androst-5-enes can be made by following the procedure outlined above and that described in Organic Reactions, vol. IV, page 196 ff. (John Wiley & Co., 1948). Similarly, other 3a-acylamino derivatives can be made by using longer fatty acid .anhydrides or halides in the reaction with the 3a-amino compounds defined above.

The 3a-azido compounds are best prepared by heating the 3Balkyl-(or aryl)-sulfonoxy compounds and the within the scope of, the appended claims.

We claim: :1. A steroid of the formula wherein R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, A and ACO, and wherein R and R are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and A, A being loweralkyl.

2. 3u-amino-17,8-canbomethoxyandrost-S-ene.

3. 3tit-amino-17'B-carboxyandrost-5-ene.

4. 3a-acetamido-17fl-carbomethoxyandrost-5-ene.

5. 3a-acetamido-17fi-carboxyandrost-5-ene.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/ 1958 Sarett et al. 26023 9.5 2/1965 Davis LEWIS GOTTS, Primary Examiner.

HENRY A. FR-E'NCH, Assistant Examiner 

1. A STEROID OF THE FORMULA 